I have a lot of friends who recommended this to me as a book they would compare to THE SIX DEATHS OF THE SAINT, and sadly, I think this comp really ruI have a lot of friends who recommended this to me as a book they would compare to THE SIX DEATHS OF THE SAINT, and sadly, I think this comp really ruined the book for me, because I have to disagree.
Though this is a twisty knight tale, the thing that works so well about THE SIX DEATHS OF THE SAINT is that it stretches the capacity of its format with brilliant tact. It's the triumph of telling an epic tale in a couple dozen pages. And I think this story is far from a mastery of format. In fact, it feels confined by its length.
I understand why my friends made this comp, and I think it'll help bring some of the right people to this story but it didn't work for me. But comp aside, let's talk about this book.
I hate when I have this opinion because it's such an annoying opinion to have, but I do really think this would work better as a long epic novel that combines this plot and whatever happens in the sequel. It was obvious from the get go that there would be some big twist about the narrator being unreliable, and so these 170 pages are really just spent in wait for that reveal. I would've been far more interested in a story that takes its time to set up this world and this character and her backstory beyond the here and now. As it stands, the payoff of the twist is weak, because the author gave me like 100+ pages to come up with theories of my own and nothing else to occupy my attention.
The world-building, the politics, and other goings-on are SO interesting but because of the urgency of the task at hand, feel irrelevant and tangental, so that the shifts beyond the task (especially towards the end) are disorienting and lack impact. There is so much to praise about this world. It does feel really lived in, and I have so many curiosities I'd love to dig into: the naming system of the knights, the history of hunting dragons, the viewpoints of magic, etc. And I think it's fine and good when worlds have details that go unexplored to focus on the direct plot, but I think time spent in this world-building would've actually much better aided the end of the narrative.
I think my favorite element is the epistolary entries about dragon hunting, and honestly I could have done with even more of them, especially if they aided the story more than they do (which isn't much at all, Bond could've really made use of these and hidden some lore elements and foreshadowing into those instead of just using them as ambiance).
I did overall enjoy my reading experience of this, and I think many people will too, but my expectations were just placed wayyyyy too high.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
CW: animal death, death, dead body, emesis, violence, alcohol, amputation, fire, hallucinations, body horror, blood & gore, self harm (for magic), child death (past)...more
A really nice follow up to A River Enchanted. I really enjoyed the shifts of focus to other parts of the world both physical and metaphysical, and theA really nice follow up to A River Enchanted. I really enjoyed the shifts of focus to other parts of the world both physical and metaphysical, and the fleshing out of its history and mythology.
Similarly to A River Enchanted, I found the distance covered by the characters a bit uneven, as most of the characters are just solving mysteries or saving folks while Torin is once again embarking on a trial of self-reflection that redefines his relationship to himself and the world around him and challenges every facet of his taught perspective.
Aside from that unevenness, however, I really enjoyed this one. I was immersed in the characters, the world, and the plot, and I'm definitely interested in reading more of Ross's work.
CW: drowning, blood, child death, illness, emesis, violence, pregnancy, death of parents (past), grief, dead body, imprisonment, poison, sexual content...more
I absolutely adore this series. Long novella series aren’t incredibly common, and this one is especially unique in that its installments function bothI absolutely adore this series. Long novella series aren’t incredibly common, and this one is especially unique in that its installments function both together and separately, allowing its readership to dip their toes into these stories one by one, enjoying the world on a scale both large and small.
To be honest, I had left the past couple books in this series feeling slightly lackluster. The first book, THE EMPRESS OF SALT AND FORTUNE, was a riveting and gorgeous story. The second one, WHEN THE TIGER CAME DOWN THE MOUNTAIN, contained such a wind of whimsy. But then the third book, IN THE RIVERLANDS, felt like Nghi Vo had already run out of story structures. The third book was a fun read and had lovely writing and characters, per usual, but honestly tried too hard to replicate the exact emotional arc and payoff of the first book, and fell short in that attempt. The fourth book, MAMMOTHS AT THE GATES, was better than the third in that it clearly was forging its own path, but it felt more like a separate reprieve from the other adventures. It lacked an impact that the initial two books had.
So when this fifth book came around, I didn’t have very high expectations. Don’t get me wrong, I was still excited for another installment, as I’ve definitely grown attached to this series regardless of its narrative accomplishments and was looking forward to reentering this world. But boy oh boy, Nghi Vo has found her footing again and we are so back, baby.
Nghi Vo brings the gothic into this installment of The Singing Hills, paying homage to classic stories like Bluebeard.
Though the structure of the pacing was still reminiscent to the other stories in this series, the use of information and lack-there-of was much more precise and complex than in the stories we’ve seen so far. Utilizing a dream-like, unsettling atmosphere, the approach to this book was so well-done and really served the story at hand.
Vo also brilliantly called back to a narrative thread from one of the other tales (I won’t say which) with such tact. Though some readers may find that repetitive, I found it to be a really strong choice. It allowed the installments, though primarily standalones, to start holding some elemental conversations, without causing either story to lean on the other. It was exactly the right installment to start bridging the gaps between the stories at hand without rupturing their ability to function on their own. Regardless of which order you read these books in, this parallel will be an exciting and unexpected familiar face amidst these otherwise mostly unconnected narratives.
As I mentioned earlier, in the third installment, the narrative parallel felt more like “oh, we’ve seen this trick before.” It didn’t quite work. Whereas in this installment, it was precisely BECAUSE we had seen this trick before that it worked for the narrative. It felt like that thread had concluded, now resting off to the side, because of the way its presence functioned in the structure of that previous story. So of course we fell for the trick again, because we thought we had left it behind.
I think this is also the first time in The Singing Hills series that Vo has really made use of limited narration. We’ve, at this point, come to rely on Chih as a truthful and honest storyteller, whose sole purpose is to chronicle information, which allows us a consistent and trustworthy perspective in which to view the world. And wow, does Vo capitalize on this lens in this one.
I am so pleased to see something new and invigorating pumped into the lungs of this series. After the lull of the past few books, it was really exciting to read an installment that is definitely competing for my favorite of the books out so far.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
CW: dead body, drugging, blood & gore, decapitation (offscreen), alcohol, sexual content (implied)...more
I had the absolute honor of reading an early draft of this book and I cannot sing its praises highly enough. Political, historical, Jewish, queer, romI had the absolute honor of reading an early draft of this book and I cannot sing its praises highly enough. Political, historical, Jewish, queer, romantic, adventurous, heart-wrenching, lyrical, ferocious, THE MAIDEN AND HER MONSTER is a masterpiece of a debut. This is one of the most impactful and close-to-the-heart stories I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading, and it brought me to tears with its profundity. Maddie has tapped into something inevitable, ancient, and eternal about the Jewish experience that feels so impossible, so bigger than itself that I can’t imagine it’s anything less than pure magic.
This book features a glorious canopy of Jewish folklore, sapphic romance, and the enchanting allure of a sentient forest, supported by a strong and meaty tale with rich characters, abundant commentary, and succulent prose. And buried deep in the story’s roots, you’ll find a beating heart that bleeds with grief, hope, and passion.
It’s an indescribable feeling to have a friend write a book and for it to end up being one of the most powerful and moving works you’ve ever read, and exactly the story your heart was yearning for. I’m full of so much gratitude and pride, and I can’t wait for you all to fall in love with Nimrah and Malka like I have....more
I have never felt so utterly betrayed, absolutely overjoyed, and unhingedly giddy with ego and adrenaline all at theHAHAHAHHAHAHAH I AM LOSING MY MIND
I have never felt so utterly betrayed, absolutely overjoyed, and unhingedly giddy with ego and adrenaline all at the same time. I need to mark this date in my diary.
Only one other person on planet Earth has ever felt this exact feeling and they likened it to the feeling Truman gets when he finds out about the Truman show. and yeah. it’s not unlike that.
Thank you to Melissa for sending me a finished copy in exchange for my raw reaction to your evil schemes over video call. I love and hate you for this.
CW: violence, alcoholism relapse, trauma, colonialism, grief, death of loved one, character death, self harm, blood & gore, dead bodies, fire, illness, electrocution, human experimentation, sexual content, kidnapping, death of parents, death of sibling, needles, infidelity, emesis...more
Howl's Moving Castle but make it a folkloric Polish fantasy in a sentient forest AND sentient house? yes please!
If you're a fan of fairytale retellingHowl's Moving Castle but make it a folkloric Polish fantasy in a sentient forest AND sentient house? yes please!
If you're a fan of fairytale retellings (Beauty and the Beast in this case), lush prose, tender romances, folklore and legends, the Howl's Moving Castle Ghibli movie, and atmospheric settings, I think this book will be just as up your alley as it was mine. An absolutely gorgeous debut from A.B. Poranek.
CW: (I was listening partially on audiobook, so did not keep full track, take these with a grain of salt.) violence, blood & gore, confinement, character death, grief, death of father (past), religious bigotry, minor/ancient being relationship, fire, dead bodies, child abuse (mention), domestic abuse (past)...more
Wow these books are gorgeous. They’re so lovely and atmospheric to live in. This one definitely had a clearer and more consistent plot, which I apprecWow these books are gorgeous. They’re so lovely and atmospheric to live in. This one definitely had a clearer and more consistent plot, which I appreciated, and I loved getting to see the world through Silver’s eyes. I still find some of Tesh’s writing to be confusingly organized but I’ll get over it for the sake of the vibes.
CW: drugging, claustrophobia, dead body, decapitation (past), blood, body horror, drowning...more
almost 350 pages of the characters talking about the hypotheticals of the mystery at hand, then having sex, then talking about their relationship despalmost 350 pages of the characters talking about the hypotheticals of the mystery at hand, then having sex, then talking about their relationship despite only knowing for each other for a few days, and repeating that over and over until the last few chapters of the book.
this story certainly wasn’t as low as my expectations for it were, considering the only things I had heard about it where in comparison to the first book in the trilogy, but it definitely had its shortcomings. I loooooved its characters and their personal journeys, but the pacing really struggled here, and I felt that Marske had a tough time balancing the moving parts of this mystery.
CW: death, murder, violence, sexual content, blood, drugging, dead body, death of parents (past), grief, emesis, alcohol consumption...more
I had no idea where to set my expectations for this book, and initially picked it up with equal amounts of interest and skepticism. But I never would I had no idea where to set my expectations for this book, and initially picked it up with equal amounts of interest and skepticism. But I never would have guessed it would have blown me away the way it did.
Following an unlikely crew of three very different characters who carry three different family burdens, WHEN AMONG CROWS is a gorgeous and captivating urban fantasy tale about regret, repentance, and responsibility.
I was prepared for an action-packed folkloric urban fantasy. But I was not prepared for the deep commentary in this book about immigration, cultural ties, and Christian imperialism. And I was even less prepared for Roth to tackle all of these elements with such nuance and tact while creating a blossoming and tender achillean romance and found family amidst the cast of utterly lovable characters.
I almost want to say I wish it was longer, but not because it needed to be (arguably one of the best paced novellas I’ve ever read), but just because I fell so in love with these characters and this world and would read a whole series of this.
If you are a fan of political and folklore-heavy narratives like THE WOLF AND THE WOODSMAN, and want that type of story in the length of a novella, I highly recommend WHEN AMONG CROWS.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
CW: blood & gore, body horror, violence, grief, self-inflicted harm (for sacrifice), religious guilt, death of mother (past), death of father (past), alcohol consumption...more
This book was very sweet and I really enjoyed the woodsy fairytale atmosphere of it all. I do think it would have been more impactful as a middle gradThis book was very sweet and I really enjoyed the woodsy fairytale atmosphere of it all. I do think it would have been more impactful as a middle grade novel, rather than YA. The attempts to fit this story into a YA age range felt incompatible with the narrative, and it definitely should've been a solid 150 pages or so shorter.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me a finished copy in exchange for an honest review!
CW: death of father (past), grief, violence, fire, injury detail, blood, child death, self-harm (for magic), self-sacrifice, kidnapping, character death, loss of loved one (past), homophobia (mention), biphobia (mention) ...more
Thank you to the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
"...she understood Angharad on a level that was almost inarticulabThank you to the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
"...she understood Angharad on a level that was almost inarticulable: it was as primal and unconscious as her lungs pumping and her heart beating."
Swollen with atmosphere, A Study in Drowning is sure to sweep its readers off their feet and into a fantastical world of fairytale.
Ava has crafted THE YA gothic fantasy, complete with dark academic elements, fae realms, sharp commentary, and a heart-melting romance at its center.
We follow Effy Sayre, an architecture student at the University of Llyr. But despite being an architecture major, Effy is a literature fiend. Or at least a fiend about one piece of literature in particular: Angharad by Emrys Myrddin, a beloved fairytale of a young woman abducted who falls in love with–and ultimately destroys–the fairy king. And Effy WOULD be dedicating her studies to literature if she could, but unfortunately women are not allowed in the literature college.
So when the opportunity arises for Effy to redesign Myrddin’s estate, she jumps at the job. But upon her arrival, all is not as expected: Hiraeth Manor is literally crumbling into the sea, and it's filled with some mysterious and unsettling inhabitants. Effy finds herself living amongst Ianto Myrddin, Myrddin’s son and the head of the estate, Myrddin’s wife who is mysteriously absent and unavailable, and Preston, a fellow student at Effy’s university.
This book–like all Ava Reid books–is overflowing with metaphor, symbolism, and historical and literary references. It is a story inspired by and about Welsh folklore, history, and language. It is about sexism in academia and sexual harassment and exploitation. It is about ableism and classism and xenophobia in society and the fantastical lengths people will go to in order to justify those isms. It, like all of Ava’s works thus far, thematically explores the relationship between self and narrative. It’s about decay. It’s about nationalism. It’s about authorship, and the connection between writer and reader. But it’s mostly about holding a mirror to ancient falsehoods that uphold oppressive institutions.
Now, I’ve been dreading writing this review, as I am certain I need a reread to fully extract my thoughts on this book, because it has SO much to say and it feels hard to reflect upon the dazzling mosaic of its imagery after just one read. And... I won't lie, I’ve also kind of been dreading writing this review as this isn’t my favorite of Ava’s works, and though I LOVED it, I found this one a little bit harder to gush about. There’s a few narrative threads I felt weren’t incredibly strong, and I wish it had been a little longer, as some bits felt skimmed over or underutilized. I think perhaps this story would’ve worked better as a duology or an adult book. But on the other hand, this was some of Ava’s best writing. The quotes at the start of each chapter were especially enchanting, as I found myself poring over those words in an attempt to absorb them into my very being. At the end of the day, it is an Ava Reid book, and so it left me with some ineffable fullness and magic that cannot be pinned down or named in words. And that is something priceless and rare and more important to me than any small shortcomings.
I absolutely without a doubt, recommend this book. Effy's story is so emotional and meaningful and will touch the hearts of so many readers, and the text is adorned with such evocative atmosphere and prose. Ava Reid has been a force to be reckoned with since their first release, and I am oh so certain we’re going to be witnessing a glorious career.
CW: sexual harassment/assault, sexism, ableism, mental illness, abusive parent, death , parental death (past), bullying, classism, xenophobia, violence, gun violence, war, child abandonment, drowning, alcohol consumption, colonialism, animal death, grooming, blood/injury, trauma, PTSD, dismemberment, child sacrifice, hallucinations...more
this was my first favorite book and will always hold a special place in my heart. I wonder what younger me saw in its discussion of the privileges of this was my first favorite book and will always hold a special place in my heart. I wonder what younger me saw in its discussion of the privileges of adulthood vs the joys of childhood.
CW: parental death (past), m-slur (used for children, not little people), blackface...more
THE EMPEROR AND THE ENDLESS PALACE is a story brimming with potential. Its marketing is bold, with comparisons to era-defining love stories such as SOTHE EMPEROR AND THE ENDLESS PALACE is a story brimming with potential. Its marketing is bold, with comparisons to era-defining love stories such as SONG OF ACHILLES. This pitch has been ambitious, and set my expectations for this book high.
Across various lifetimes, THE EMPEROR AND THE ENDLESS PALACE tells the tale of reincarnated lovers stuck in an endless loop, their romance forever star-crossed as fate tangles them together time and again.
My favorite types of stories are the kind that transcend their singular telling, which is why I’m so drawn to reincarnation-based plots. I’m nothing if not a sucker for stories that say “love (not always romantic!!!) conquers all” or that celebrate the interconnectedness of culture and humanity. They always make me feel a part of something larger than myself and/or bring me some comforting sense of hope. And this book sets itself up to be one of these stories: one that discusses love, romance, and human relationships across distant lands and time.
Which is why it was so disappointing.
The story starts out promising, its scope wide but its strokes confident, painting a canvas full of folkloric imagery and setting up the bones of something stuffed with yearning, queerness, and transformation. While reading the first chapter, I vividly remember thinking: “oh. I’m going to love this.” But this command begins and ends with that first chapter, the rest of the book featuring only glimpses into this level of storytelling.
The majority of this book’s journey is oddly timid and disjointed. Its folkloric and fantastical elements are scattered, isolated to mere moments without any profound impact on the world-building or the story as a whole. The prose feels the same, as the story sometimes halts to insert moments of lovely meaningful writing sandwiched between tentative plot points.
Despite the book’s claim to tell some grand story that transcends time and space, it struggles to hold an overarching narrative, functioning through individual moments. This book isn’t one story told across separate timelines or even three stories told simultaneously, but rather is three fractions of a story on rotation, with minimal narrative distance covered by any of the individual timelines. It reminds me of those children’s stereoscopes I played with growing up, clicking through reels of scenes only connected by their shared concept.
This book tells us that these characters are trapped in a cycle of reincarnation spanning thousands of years and hundreds of lifetimes, so the fact that this book only provides some inconsequential sliver of insight into three (THREE!) of them was baffling to me. I desperately wanted even the slightest peek into another lifetime to help understand the magnitude of this supposed epic, transcendent romance. The story would have been served so much better with interludes between chapters that share even vague glimpses into other lifetimes. Or it needed to express why these three lifetimes are significant turning points at the absolute least. It desperately needed some tangible portrayal of the weight of these thousands of years.
There isn’t even that much interconnectivity between the three portrayed timelines, and the connections that are present feel more like wink wink nudge nudges rather than actual links. It reads as though nothing really changes in this relationship over lifetimes and, well, nothing IS actually changing in this relationship over lifetimes! Which makes me ask, why reincarnation then?
Because you’re telling me that you have lived hundreds of lifetimes, thousands of years, and you… what? have sex and then reincarnate again? There is just literally nothing greater going on between these characters. Not a singular piece of ground, over thousands of years, is covered in progressing… what, exactly?
Which, let’s get into that, shall we? As we find out later on in the story, there’s supposedly some curse that’s tied to a specific object that one of the main characters is trying to track down in the modern timeline. And we don’t even really know what this curse is, who placed it or why, or how to break it. There’s just… a “curse”and it’s supposedly causing their reincarnation in some way. It’s all very noncommittal. This explanation feels literally just dropped in there as an attempt to justify their reincarnation, but actually has no real impression on the nonexistent plot.
As you can probably surmise from my description so far, the rules of the world are just vague. Not in any kind of an interesting way, but in a way that feels like the author is just hesitant to touch world-building or logic, which resulted in fragmented, confusing connections between elements and uncertain stakes. Because there is no part of the plot here we can really root for! There is no real end goal!
Without any understanding behind this “curse” or the circumstances these characters are in, we have absolutely nowhere to go. There is no wrong to be righted, because the provided information about this supposed “wrong” is minimal at best, and there is no known way to “right” it. (There’s one that’s implied, but it's really confusing and the characters never actually take major strides to fulfilling it.) And it’s not even clear what the punishment or consequence for the “wrong” is, because it just seemed like it’s reincarnation, which doesn’t seem all that bad, since there was nothing wrong happening to them due to reincarnation.
(Sidebar! It’s officially now time for me to bring in THE quote. The quote that this book is being marketed around. Because this quote makes absolutely no sense with this story, and it is a great example as to how this book confuses itself with its logic.
“What if I told you that the feeling we call love is actually the feeling of metaphysical recognition, when your soul remembers someone from a previous life?”
So let’s begin counting the things that make no sense with this quote! Problem 1: If these characters’ reincarnation loop is something they’re doomed into, why is the feeling of reincarnation being equated to love, which is something we’re supposed to view as a positive? Problem 2: If the characters are in love and therefore want to be together, why would we stop the reincarnation, which is supposedly what is giving them the feeling of love?)
Now let’s talk about this book’s only real obstacle: a third character who gets between our main characters.
I absolutely hate this third character. He essentially rapes one of the main characters over multiple timelines, and yet his relationship to the two main characters seems to be narratively framed as a love V, his role being to keep a character torn between loyalty and lust. So he never quite works as a villain because he’s also set up as a love interest, but never works as a love interest because he is a controlling rapist. I didn’t know what to make of him and his presence in the story really put me off. There are also like two or three chapters in which the characters spend nearly the whole scene scheming about killing this guy off and then there's never any actual follow through on that, ever? There's never any attempt made on his life and there's never a moment where they decide not to kill him off. Fully just forgotten.
(Quickly back to the quote! Problem 3: If love is the feeling of metaphysical recognition, and this other character is reincarnating with the main two, shouldn’t the main two characters both be in love with this character? Wouldn’t they all three be amorously in love after living hundreds of lifetimes in orbit?)
In general, I’m not a fan of the erotica in this book. I really don’t mind explicit sexual content, and I had been warned ahead of time about the amount of sexual content in this book, but I found myself SO uncomfortable. I think this is primarily because there are good sex scenes, neutral sex scenes, and bad sex scenes, and then there are consensual sex scenes, dubious sex scenes, and nonconsensual sex scenes, with little to no correlation between those different factors. The story seems to have no invested interest in consent when it comes to sexual content. Until there is one attempted rape scene in one of the timelines, when it is clear the audience is meant to be thinking: “oh no, he’s going to rape him, that’s bad!” But this doesn’t hold any actual weight because so many of the other sexual scenes are nonconsensual or dubious and are treated as normal or even kind of sexy by the narrative.
The language of these scenes is also just… so cringey? I was confused by the combination of explicit descriptions of sexual acts and the coy substitution of certain sexual words and body parts. I just could not take “influence” and “pink plum” seriously. If you’re going to be that explicit with the sexual actions of your characters, and you’re not trying create some profound metaphorical imagery, then stop using code words! It was cute the first time and then it got annoying!
Anyways, back to the reincarnation issues because AGAIN, the world-building in regards to the rules of this don’t make any sense. To recap: we’re initially told that only the two characters are doomed in a loop because of the “curse.” (And also because they’re in love? Unclear.) And then, of course, we find out that this third character is also reincarnating with them.
But actually, the story also suggests that there are more people reincarnating along with these other characters. At some points in the novel, a character in one timeline is clearly hinted at in another, but these connections are never expanded upon beyond that.
(Problem 4: How can their romance be epic because they keep reincarnating and therefore creating this growing feeling of true love, when potentially everyone around them is someone they know from previous lives?)
And you know what? I’m actually VERY down for an ensemble cast. I think this book would have flourished so much more if this was fleshed out. It would have created a clearer arc between the three POVs and maybe even would have helped craft a better and more constant rhetoric about love and community.
(If it weren’t for that dastardly curse that literally contradicts everything, what the fuck is that?)
But truly, the most frustrating thing about this book is that it doesn’t seem that these characters are actually… in love. I’m concerned that Huang doesn’t know the difference between romantic attraction, sexual attraction, and love. We’re told A LOT that these two men have some “special feeling” between them that transcends lifetimes, and that that feeling is “true love,” but the only thing we’re really shown between them is some really great sex.
In fact, the greatest examples of love I can point to in the book are shown by side characters in the modern timeline–characters, who don’t as far as I’m aware, have any parallels between timelines.
(Problem 5: If love is metaphysical recognition, does this only count for romantic and/or sexual love? Problem 6: If the answer to problem 5 even is yes, one of the side characters has romantic AND sexual AND platonic love for one of the main characters, but doesn’t seem to appear in other timelines, so is he not actually feeling love? Problem 7: Is no one able to feel love for someone they aren’t reincarnated with? Problem 8: If this side character is feeling unrequited love, does that mean he was reincarnated with the main character, but the main character was not reincarnated with him? How does that make sense? Problem 9: By the time it rolls around to the modern timeline, we never see these characters in love, just very sexually attracted to each other, while other characters show their love through genuine compassion and support and patience, but their love is not as valued by the main character, so is love just the feeling of finding someone really hot? Problem 10: If they’re trapped by this curse of reincarnation, and metaphysical recognition is love, how could they have fallen in love in their first lifetime? Check. mate.)
Now, it’s possible there is some sort of commentary here about the way we define love, and how we should be looking to the people who support us rather than staying caught up in the cycles of the past, but… I’m not sure that the book really supports this. It seems, above all, to value undying loyalty.
By the final chapters (without spoiling it, I promise), the book practically falls apart, all its final choices undermining every message this story initially sets out to portray without any shift of perspective. It constantly contradicts itself, leaving a muddied, frustrating, and inconclusive messaging. We lose the plot line of the curse entirely, there’s still barely any narrative distance covered across any of the three timelines, and the romance is just…??? It lacks closure, and I really love an open ending but there isn’t even a final beat or question for us to ponder on that carries us off and away from this book.
At the end of it all, I think this book just has no clue what it is trying to say. There is no guiding hand, leaving the audience to saunter aimlessly through this garden of ideas.
I don’t know where the blame for these issues lie, with the author or the editor or both or neither, but wow was this one a disappointment. When you have a narrative brimming with this much potential, you need to make sure you have a strong grip on it. A shaky hand only causes spillage, making a mess of the story and your reader.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
CW: sexual content (including dubious and nonconsensual content), drug use, drugging, alcohol, animal death, homophobia, death, mind control, gun violence, blood, death of father (past), death by cancer (past), infidelity (mention), alcoholism (mention), suicide (mention), fatphobic comment...more
Cemetery Boys meets Noah Kahan in this YA house book.
A really sweet and spooky YA story with a nuanced and unbelievably lovable trio of main characterCemetery Boys meets Noah Kahan in this YA house book.
A really sweet and spooky YA story with a nuanced and unbelievably lovable trio of main characters. Complete with a magical realism-style metaphorical magic system, a lovable achillean romance, and a house that represents the walls we build out of trauma.
CW: death of mother (past), grief, animal death, confinement, racism, child abandonment, blood, hospitalization, fire, electrocution...more
Thank you to the author for sending me a copy of this book!
"Imagine that these paper birds were me and you—I’d have folded us together"
Returning to thThank you to the author for sending me a copy of this book!
"Imagine that these paper birds were me and you—I’d have folded us together"
Returning to the world of Modern Divination from a new angle, Agajanian once again takes their readers on a journey of hope, love, and loss. In book two we have: less tea, less academia, and less banter, but more swords, more Catholic guilt, and lots more bird content.
CW: grief, emesis, suicide (past), alcohol consumption, death of mother, dead body, blood & gore, blood magic, violence, abusive parents, religious trauma, character death...more
Foul Days is the first installment in a new fast-paced urban fantasy duology inspired by Bulgarian folklore, and marketed for fans of Naomi Novik.
I geFoul Days is the first installment in a new fast-paced urban fantasy duology inspired by Bulgarian folklore, and marketed for fans of Naomi Novik.
I generally enjoyed this book, its premise, and world-building, but unfortunately wasn’t able to get over some glaring structural issues with the writing and the cop love interest.
Let’s break it down a bit.
The things I enjoyed:
The world-building. Slavic folklore is always a hit for me in fantasy stories and I loved the dark urban twist. The world feels lived in, and each magical element and each structural choice wonderfully impacts the characters’ experiences and perspectives. Besides the main monsters of the world, there are wonderful small sprinklings of folklore and superstition utilized throughout the story that really flesh out the world. (I love the superstitious folkloric history of immurement! And I love it in fantasy stories!)
The commentary. The two contrasting lands and societies is by far the element of the story that gets the most impactful mileage. It offers a stage for this story to discuss a lot of issues between class and privilege in our world, and to do so well. I loved the way we saw–manifested in a literal sense–the way that privileged folks unleash all the world’s horrors and struggles onto marginalized and underprivileged individuals and then shove it behind a wall so that they don’t have to confront the harm caused to those people. The way that marginalized and underprivileged people then have to completely adjust their lives and cultures to coexist with these horrors and demons, while the upper class and privileged then take those cultural touchstones and turn them into commodifications and aesthetics to don and discard as they please. In a day and age where we see a lot of rich kids cosplaying as poor, or likenesses and dialects of marginalized communities becoming fashion trends, this was incredibly poignant and was probably the highlight of the book.
The depictions of trauma. There’s a few elements of trauma depicted in this story. Some of it being a survivor’s guilt type of trauma, and another being from an abusive relationship. I thought these arcs were really well done and really loved the extra layer of weight and growth it added to the characters’ arcs.
The things I didn’t like:
The approach to this fast-paced structure. In a fast-paced story, it is crucial to keep your audience on their toes and to keep them invested in the stakes of the story, both large and small. But especially across the first half of this book, nothing is given time to land before its wielded for subversion or plot use. The story sets up a piece of information–and always through telling, never showing–and then within the next two chapters, the payoff of that planted seed is immediately carried out. It caused me as a reader to overly anticipate the subversion of any new element or information. I lost faith and engagement in the story because any newly introduced piece of information, character, object, or backstory element would be incredibly short-lived and immediately utilized for the following plot point, so I had nothing substantial to really hold on to. Especially with everything being told instead of shown, I had a hard time believing or putting weight to any element. This does get a lot better by the end, but this issue permeates the whole first half of the book.
The cop love interest. There is absolutely no reason for him to be a cop. He could just as easily be a spy or a private investigator hired out by the police, or something of the like. And this book… seems to be aware that cops are bad? The main character constantly says she didn’t trust him because he's a cop and that good cops are myths. But no matter how many times you have your main character say cops are bad, having a love interest be a “good guy” cop, whose police experience canonically taught him to see magical beings as real people instead of creatures, and who thinks of his police station as his home, and refuses to be a “corrupt cop” still gives this story a “Not All Cops Are Bad, Actually” stance. And I could not read about him read about him breaking through the “barricade” (yes, the actual word used) of pillows on their tropey-one-bed so that the characters wake in each other’s arms without associating it with the police–that I saw with my own eyes, just DAYS ago–breaking through a barricade made of literal human bodies to brutalize hundreds of students for peacefully protesting. This character being a cop is also incredibly antithetical to this book's messaging about the criminalization and forced poverty of the lower class. There’s some other spoiler-y stuff I won’t mention that makes me extra hate this guy, but I really didn’t understand this choice. There wouldn’t have had to be so much page space wasted railing against the police (to no avail) if he had just NOT BEEN A COP.
Overall, I was hooked enough by the premise, the characters, and world-building to read through the whole book, and I’m glad I did, but I was put off enough by the writing issues and the cop love interest that I’m certain I will not be continuing with this series.
CW: classism, abusive relationship (past), adult/minor relationship, trauma, grief, murder, blood, dead body, gun violence, sibling death (past), gambling, fire, medical content, death of loved one (past), emesis, alcohol, hospitalization, death of parents (past), car accident (past)
Thank you to the publisher for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!...more
“Because it is a language that spends its power in command and conquest. But you were wrong when you said you didn’t need the words. You do need them.“Because it is a language that spends its power in command and conquest. But you were wrong when you said you didn’t need the words. You do need them. Just as God did when He set this whole miserable clockwork running. Language creates possibility. Sometimes by being used. Sometimes by being kept secret.”
Wow. Without a doubt, will be one of my favorites of the year. Dazzling, quietly perseverant, and captivating, THE FAMILIAR is a testament to resilience. It’s a testament to the Jewish experience. It’s a testament to survival–to protecting the most precious parts of ourselves for ourselves however we must.
There’s something that gets me choked up about reading Jewish stories that center this particular brand of resistance: the kind that isn’t about changing the world, but is about taking care of ourselves and each other. Of course, Jewish revolution and political action can be just as moving, but for so much of our history, we did have to put our heads down and keep our communities safe through quieted whispers and clenched teeth and clasped palms. Through keeping the most valuable parts of our identities close to our chest. And this isn’t a story about moving the political tide or making waves in the minds of the masses towards acceptance. It’s a story about drops in the water and the ripple effect they can make. It’s about perseverance through preservation. And there’s something so preciously Jewish about that. (Honestly it makes me want to cry just thinking about it.)
The characters here are all so brilliant and riveting. Luzia is fierce and bull-headed and daring, everything I love in a strong female protagonist. Valentina is brave, stumbling into her own self-discovery. But I think my favorite was Santángel, who felt like a cross between Ariel from the Tempest and Erik (the Phantom) from The Phantom of the Opera, with a sprinkling of Howl from Howl’s Moving Castle. But as all good characters should, their individual traits truly shine when they come into contact with each other, molding and scarring each other for the better.
I know many people will walk away from this book simping over the love interest or gushing over the romance, and honestly, I get it, I am a little bit as well. But, if I could have one hope as this goes into the world, it would be that people remember that the context of this book was very real. That the Spanish Inquisition was real. That the struggles these characters face were real struggles that Jewish and Muslim and other marginalized people faced at this time. "Witchcraft” accusations were a tool of more than just misogyny. They were a tool of empire and cultural erasure. Before the witch hunters came for the women, they came for the queer and disabled people. Before the witch hunters came for the queer and disabled people, they came for the Jews, the Muslims, the Black and Indigenous people.
I think this book does an incredible job of explaining how marginalized people were targeted by this empirical effort, so I’ll just leave this quote here with you:
After hundreds of years, if there were so many sinners left, what had the Inquisition accomplished? They might root out Jews and Muslims and Erasmists and alumbrados, but then what was left? The machine had been built to consume heresy and impiety, so would it simply keep finding heresy and impiety to feed on?
I can’t wait for this book to launch its way out into the world and for you all to join me in this world of scorching flames, blinding jewels, and heart-softening orange blossoms. An utter masterpiece from Bardugo, THE FAMILIAR will be praised for years to come.
Thank you so much to the publisher for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
CW: antisemitism, religious bigotry, forced assimilation, violence, blood & gore, body horror, imprisonment, torture, fire, drowning, character death, grief, misogyny, animal death, alcohol, emesis, sexual content, death of parents (past), sexual assault (past, brief)...more
Starting off, I want to preface that this review solely contains my opinions on this book in particular. This is my first joBuddy read this with Drea!
Starting off, I want to preface that this review solely contains my opinions on this book in particular. This is my first journey into Discworld and I don't feel like I have the scope yet to have a judgment on the larger series or on Terry Pratchett’s writing beyond this book.
My primary impression of MORT was a whole lot of fun. Fantasy comedy is my absolute favorite genre when it comes to movies and TV shows and it's something that I have been absolutely desperate for more of in the literary space for a long time now. So it's kind of incredible that it’s taken me so long to get around to Discworld! Aka THE fantasy comedy series! And MORT’s humor was incredibly well paced and placed, and well-woven into its narrative tone, characters, and general disposition from the very beginning to the very end. It was quirky and laugh-out-loud funny (seriously, everything from a giggle to a guffaw escaped my mouth during my reading of this book) and surprisingly cozy for a story about death.
But, I won't lie, I did have a lot of craft issues with this book. Frankly, I thought it was good storytelling but not particularly good writing.
There’s a subtle sexism to this story in the way that Mort is centered in the story as our Hero and Romantic Figure without actually having to be interesting or motivated to do anything more than exist. He has little to no agency or depth. He is not Important, but rather surrounded by Importance. Most of the ways he changes over the course of the story involves Things Happening To Him and Other People Making Decisions About Him but not even in a way that makes him stronger or bolder or braver or more compassionate. He’s never truly challenged or pushed, and he never has to earn the growth he achieves throughout the story (arguably, he's fundamentally unchanged internally by the end, other than gaining some confidence). I think he makes like… one (1) decision on his own in the whole book? Meanwhile, there are female characters who are overflowing with personality and agency and who make a lot of bold, world-changing decisions (I do really kind of love them as characters!! Genuinely!!), yet still seem to only exist as narrative bolsters for Mort’s tale. Their biggest moments as characters are when they stand up for Mort or help Mort or look at Mort (I'm so serious rn). Their personhood feels exoticized by the story and by the male characters, who still view them as romantic or sexual objects (at best, emotional crutches) at the end of the day. Though MORT is most certainly nowhere near as bad as some of those books that read like the author never considered a woman would ever read their work, there is something to unpack about the way this story seems to cater a sympathetic lens to awkward boys and men with no prospects or desire to better themselves who feel as though they still deserve to be Important Heroes Who Get The Girl.
I also felt this book, because of the above issues, lacked Perspective. My favorite type of fantasy comedy (arguably, the only type really worthwhile) is the kind that says something about the world or that leaves its audience with some kind of messaging or profundity to apply to our own lives. And despite containing all of the tools in which to do that, it just doesn’t. Now maybe I’m missing something (genuinely, someone please correct me if there’s a deeper meaning that I’m missing because I desperately want this story to have one), but MORT left me as an audience member surely entertained, but feeling like I was missing something intellectually.
I’m definitely still very hopeful–as this story is considered one of the entry points into Discworld–that there is more to be explored and expounded upon in future installments! There were really so many things I loved: Death as a character (so funny and so smart), Ysabelle (she’s so smart and funny and I love that she’s described as both fat and pre-Raphaelite and I really hope she gets more of her own narrative in the future because she deserves it), the humor, the world building, etc. and I really can’t wait to read more.
CW: death, animal death, parental death (past), drowning, alcohol consumption...more